Watchful Waiting

Our text has some good mystery to it. As I've mentioned to other pastors or others When I'm preaching on Matthew 25, 24, it really has a significant weight to it. There's mystery, there's things we don't know. But then there's things Jesus says we cannot know. But people keep trying to veer into that lane and try to tell us what Jesus said we will not know.

This morning we're looking at the second part of the Olivet Discourse, we're looking at We've been walking through Matthew. If you're new with us, we're walking through this book of the Bible sequentially. Matthew is ordered around five discourses. Each one ends with when he had finished saying these things. He's preparing his disciples for what is to come. He's already given them predictions.

He will die three days later, rise again. It's very hard for them. the Messiah they believe they're following, who's going to usher in a new kind of kingdom. He is, but it's not the kind of kingdom they're looking for. They don't expect a suffering servant. So he's given them that prediction, he prepared them, but these two chapters are really preparing them for what is to come after his resurrection and ascension. He's telling them what's going to take place.

Last week, we saw that abomination of desolation. Many of the things he spoke of last week were referring to the events of AD 70 when Rome attacked the temple. And many Christians were also persecuted in that Roman persecution. If you look at this text, I want to say one of the most important aspects is how it shapes your faith. Faith is one of those very challenging concepts, I think, for the church to think about.

We are about to celebrate the Reformation. We're always reforming. And faith alone is one of the key declarations of scripture. We are saved by faith. Faith seeks to see God, to know his truth. It's faith in what has been revealed. And faith today is somewhat in a mirror dimly. Faith does not have all the answers to every question. Faith is always seeking understanding. Faith cannot be based upon what you comprehend. That's called knowledge. Faith seeks to know.

It's important because we need to wrestle with what God calls us to, and faith has been confused in what we call the scientific age. The science promised certainty. Science said they would disprove superstitions and myths, what they refer to as religion. The scientific age was full of optimism.

It led us to two world wars, lots of confusion. Christian, visitor, guest, unbeliever, what do you know and how do you know it? Does it have to be empirically verified for you to believe it? Does it have to be completely understandable for you to trust it?

There was a philosophy of science called logical positivism, logical positivism. It was a stupid idea that still infiltrates our thinking. Most of you probably have never heard of it, but logical positivism says the only meaningful and authoritative statements are those that can be empirically verified. All right, we're thinking this morning. The only meaningful and authoritative statements are those that can be empirically verified.

What's wrong with that? It's self-defeating. That statement itself cannot be empirically verified. The very foundation of that philosophy cannot be empirically verified. That is a leap of faith. I share this with you because we need to come to terms with faith. Faith in the God of Scripture is not a blind leap. It also cannot be determined by what we ourselves understand fully or comprehend. It's not irrational, but we think, we believe things that God has said that are so far beyond our understanding. It's important we remember the last verse from last week.

The heavens and earth will pass away, but the word of the Lord will stand forever.

This is a foundation. Our God speaks. He speaks so we can know who we are, we can know who he is, we can know him as the creator, we can know him as the saver, we can know what the meaning of life is. Sometimes he speaks and he tells us what we can't know. Here's my observation of humanity.

And it's a problem that is also pervasive in the church. We seem to be regularly discontent with what God says clearly and absolutely, and always wanting to be entertained by the things that God does not speak to clearly and truly. We seem to think it's boring to think about the things that God repeats with emphasis over and over again in scripture. We get bored with the death of Christ on the cross and what it means for us in forgiveness. We act like the resurrection is just something, oh, I believed that once and I'm gonna move on.

A faith that makes ready

No, I wanna go into, angels and all kinds of other things that we can create conspiracy theories with. Christian, what God says emphatically and repeatedly is what's most important. Let's come together and rejoice in the true truth that Jesus tells us and let's be very clear. Jesus says, you cannot know when I come back. There are things we cannot know. This morning, I'm going to be looking at this text. The first thing I want you to see is faith that makes ready. A faith that makes ready. We're picking up in the midst of this, all of that discourse. We're picking up where Jesus is answering their questions. What are the signs? When will these things take place? Jesus doesn't always answer every question of the disciples directly. He usually answers the question they should have asked. Here, he's leaning in on the emphatic declaration he is returning. And they cannot know. Now, we're at the gate. We have a challenging statement. Verse 36.

He's declared that day you will not have to go look for me. That day, it will be obvious. It will be like lightning in the sky. The day and hour I come, it's coming, Here he says, you cannot know it.

But concerning that day and hour, no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the son,

speaking of himself,

but the father only.

All right, so it's clear, not the day or the hour. Let's just go ahead and say the month, the year.

He's making it very clear you cannot know this. He's making it very clear by the way he actually goes into it that the angels do not know it who are not even on earth. Even the Son doesn't know. That's a challenging statement. The Son doesn't know something. This text has been used to disprove the Son's deity.

So we do need to think about this for a little bit. We believe God is Father, Son, and Spirit. One God, and that means one nature. Will and knowledge are in the nature. That's a significant statement. Will and knowledge are in the nature. The Son and the Father are truly God, meaning one cannot know more than the other. The Son and Father are truly one, meaning they cannot have different wills. So this text seemed to be used against Jesus' deity. We're gonna be looking at a text soon,

not my will, but your will be done.

We have to come to terms with a Christology. Here's the groundwork.

Jesus is the Son of God incarnate. The Son, we call this his person. The Son has two natures, his divine nature that he has had for all eternity. He is fully, truly divine, and he added a nature to himself. Now he has two natures, which means he has two minds, two wills. He added a nature so that he'd become like us to restore our minds so we can think God's thoughts after him again, so we can restore our hearts so that our wills are once again bent towards God. Paul describes this as making himself nothing, taking a nature like ours, a form of a servant. He set aside his glory by adding our nature. He didn't set aside his mind, he didn't set aside his will.

When Jesus says he does not know here in verse 36, or in Acts that Daniel read earlier, he's speaking in the incarnation. He, as the incarnate one, is submitting to the Father's will as to what he will and know and will not do. The rule for this is the lowly description is referred to as humanity. Whatever he's referred to as exalted and glorious, that's his deity. Both are true and must be held in tension. Jesus actively is taking this lowly nature, our human nature, that has a will and a mind and he is actively limiting himself in the incarnation to not know his return. The most significant thing Jesus is teaching us, you cannot know. Emphatically. The day and the hour, we cannot know, but this is the good news. The Father knows. The relief is the Father knows and will send his son back at the right time.

The same God who is the giver of every good and perfect gift, the father who does not withhold anything good from you, he is withholding when Jesus is coming back from you. That means you don't need to know it. He doesn't hold anything good from you. He gives you everything good.

Jesus then gives a number of illustrations to help us understand what it means when the Son comes.

For as the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage until the day when Noah entered the ark. And they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.

All right, so he's basing it in the days of Noah. That is referring to the days of the flood, Genesis 6 to 9. They were eating and drinking and marrying and giving in marriage. The days of Noah in Genesis are spoken of as how exceedingly wicked they were, but here it just seems that they're going about life as normal. In those days, it's speaking of all humanity.

As the floods came, Suddenly, without any warning, so will the Son of Man come. As the floods came that were universally obvious, so will the Son of Man come. Like lightning. You don't have to go looking for it. Now, Noah, the analogy breaks down. When the floods came to Noah, that was a day of judgment. But some people did know. He's speaking of the world that was judged, not Noah. Noah and his family knew. Remember, God said, build an ark. And then he said, Noah, go into that ark, and I will shut that door. And I will seal you, and I will keep you safe, and you'll be a beginning of a new humanity. In Noah's time, all people were going about their lives as normal. And those people who were going about lives as normal, all were under the judgment. All knew the flood came. All, everyone, each one, were swept away, except those God forewarned."

Now, it's kind of interesting to think about the coming of the Son of Man with Noah, and this might be going further than necessary, but that was God decreating? Remember day three is where he separates the waters from the earth. What he's doing in Noah's flood is Starting a new creation by de-creating, by going back and covering the whole earth with water again. It's a judgment and a new beginning. Pretty fascinating that the new heavens, new earth, there is no sea. There's a new future, meaning no chaos, no fear.

The Son of Man, he will come suddenly. He will come, we see here, more illustrations. Verses 40 and 41,

two men will be in the field, one will be taken, one left. Two women will be grinding at the mill, one taken, one left.

Again, normal everyday life. People will be going and doing what they normally do, and yet suddenly one will be taken when the Son of Man comes, and one left. Well, the takeaway for you is in 42 and 44.

Therefore, stay awake.

And

therefore, you also must be ready.

Here's a faith that is awake and a faith that is ready. Looking back at last week's text, a faith that has not had a love grow cold, a faith that has doubt and suspicion is going to fail and not endure and therefore will not be saved. Here, warning us. Do not let the mundane life take so hold of you that your love grows cold and you're not ready and you're not prepared. Be awake, be ready so that you endure. See the repeated emphasis, stay awake because you don't know the day of the Lord when it's coming. Now there's some relief here for those of you who have the concern, we don't know this, Verse three tells you to know something.

So if you're really under the agony of agnosticism, of what you cannot know, now we know what we can know.

But know this, if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming,

there's a hypothetical,

he would have stayed awake and would not let his house be broken into.

If you know when the thief is coming, you're gonna be ready to protect your house. If you know that exact hour, you're gonna be ready for him to protect what you possess and to catch him. What she's saying, you do not know, so you must always be ready. You must always be awake.

Be ready for endurance

We do not take vacation from faith. Now, this could be a wonderful proof text for being a prepper. It is all about being prepared. The whole focus of what we're looking at today is how you are supposed to be prepared, but it's a preparedness of faith. Be ready for endurance.

It means you need to exercise. Your faith muscles need exercise. This requires you to know God's word and know God's people. It requires trusting God's word and obeying it. It requires prayer and encouragement. It requires other people. who are faithful with you to the Lord and faithful to you.

Let's be clear, Christianity is not for the weak. Christianity is not for the coward. There are no cowards in heaven, according to Revelation. It's always funny to me that people say Christianity's a crutch for the weak. Yeah, God came to save sinners. He came to help those who are poor and weak, to make us rich and strong in his grace. Christ came to heal and restore, to make men who have chest.

That means they have full virtue. They have hearts that are full by God's grace to be right with God and know what is good, right, and true, and be committed to it and to suffer for it and be ready to suffer for it. Endure. It means we're awake. It means we're made ready. Enduring to be awake. Enduring to be ready. If you're this kind of Christian, which is the only kind of Christian, you will endure. Here's some exhortation to think, what does it mean to be awake and how do I make myself ready?

First, starts with gratitude. It never stops. You never stop being grateful. Gratitude. It means you receive something. Gratitude by definition means you're needy and you've received something. You needed it and depended upon it and God provided it. Gratitude is the proper posture and practice for all image bearers and believers. Gratitude to God who knows all and blesses you richly. He gives generously.

So first is just practicing gratitude, knowing how to be thankful for all the things God has clearly given you in this life, especially what he promises in his word. Second, the way to make sure you're awake and ready, faithfully seeking to live out the gospel. If you're faithfully seeking to live out the gospel, sin becomes more and more of a burden. Temptation, trials become more and more frustrating.

Remember what the word endure means. It means you remain under. Christ suffered the most temptation because he never gave in to sin in the wilderness. He suffered and endured under that sin without ever giving in. The person who feels the weight the most is the person who constantly has it over their head and doesn't give in and drop it.

If you're fighting sin, You're constantly saying, I cannot wait for heaven. I'm awake and I'm ready because I'm sick of the fight. I'm sick of the temptation. I'm sick of the trial. Walk fully in the grace of God so that you're longing for the coming of Christ. And have sin removed, not just defeated and forgiven. Christian, be ready. Stay awake to endure. Our second section here shows us that faith needs to be faithful. Faith that is faithful and does not forsake. He then moves into another kind of illustration.

Faith that is faithful

Who then is a faithful and wise servant whom his master has set over his household to give them their food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions. But if that wicked servant says to himself, my master is delayed, and begins to beat his fellow servants, and eats and drinks with drunkards, the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him, and an hour he does not know, and will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites, In that place, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

So we've seen a contrast already in 1441. That's just simply as you're living life, one is taken, one is left. One is grinding the mill, one is left. But now it's wise and foolish. And this is going to be how he continues to teach even after into next week. There's a wise servant and a foolish servant.

Notice the faithful and the wise, when set over the house. He stewards what God gives him. Who is a faithful? Who is the wise? This contrast is significant. The faith one, he takes all the authority the master gave him, and he takes all the resources the master gave him, and he uses those for the benefit of others.

You know, when you own something, you can do whatever you want with it. You can break it. You can indulge yourself with it. But whenever it's given to you, whenever it's stewardship, you use it according to who gave it to you. Christian, all of life is stewardship. You own nothing. You've been purchased by Christ. You belong to him. I want you to see something.

Faithfulness and stewardship are adjacent concepts. Faithfulness and ownership don't stand next to each other. Here, the wise and faithful servant, he sees the privilege and responsibility his master has given to him. So he uses the authority and resources given to him to provide for others and to care for others.

The good master said to the servant, here is the authority, here's the resources, now you feed them. That's the significant thing. 45, the master sent him over his household to give them their food. That's what makes him wise. He cares for others, he provides for others.

Notice 46, the promise that comes with being a wise servant.

Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes.

The master doesn't say, I'm coming so I can find you doing it then. No, he's committed to always providing for the whole household. Blessed is the one who is found this way.

Truly, I say to you, Truly, he will set him over all his possessions.

The consequence is a reward. The master gives him more. The master who sees him faithful gives him more responsibility and more blessing. This is how God functions. He is generous and gives more and gives more and gives more. Notice the contrast, verse 48.

The wicked servant, he says, my master is delayed. And he begins to beat his fellow servants and eats and drinks with the drunkards. He says, my master is away, so I'm gonna play games. I'm gonna pretend I'm the master. Instead of feeding, instead of using his authority and resources for others, he abuses others. and self-indulges.

He beats the servants and gets drunk with the drunkards. It's the opposite of faithful servants. Do you see the contrast? He gives them their food at the proper time, verse 45. Now this one, he beats the servants and he consumes himself. The wicked servant, he uses all of his authority for his own self-indulgence and to lord over others. Notice when the good master returns, there is a consequence and it is not a reward, it is wrath.

He will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites. In that place there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.

This was became much more cosmic. He's speaking of hell here.

A real place most Christians do not like to talk about. Incredible in our culture shift of social justice, we deny the real final judgment and justice of God. Christians, you realize most Christians do not like the concept of hell. God's just. He must punish every sin. He's a good God. We don't like the idea of a God who's just angry because that's not the God that exists. That's not the God who reveals himself. He's the God who's true, who's good, who will punish all evil.

There's actually comfort in that. If you've come to Christ, And know that he punished our evil in Christ. And there's comfort in that, that if you're treated with evil, God is the one who will have vengeance. We don't have to be our own vindicators. That's God. If you're not a Christian, hear the reality. There is a final judgment. We call it hell. Weeping and gnashing of teeth, there's a forever judgment. an experience of God's judgment without grace. Today, if you hear his voice, by grace you can be saved. By grace, you can escape hell and come into the presence of God. It's called to believe. You must believe in Jesus. Two marks of the wicked, they hate their neighbor and they have self-indulgent love. Both are unhealthy, disordered loves. Both show a lack of love for God, a love grown cold. You see, these two things go together. Love your neighbor as yourself.

Abusing other servants, that probably has, going along with it, there's a way in which the self-indulgence is related to the abuse of others. But the thing about this, how would we abuse other servants today? Fellow man. I think it's usually with our words. If you're asking yourself, am I a wicked servant, how are you using your words? Are you quick to criticize? Assume the worst. Slander throws suspicion. This is how we do this today in our age. We don't physically beat people, I don't think. We verbally beat them.

There's women which are, are you unhappy because you're seeking satisfaction outside of God's will? That would lead you to that kind of self indulgence that he warns of here. Instead of taking what God has given you and using it according to his purpose, are you self indulgent? Jesus is very clear, you know a tree by its fruits. Those who grow tired, who stop being faithful stewards, they stop being grateful for what their master's given them. It's true, people hurt people. The people who are trying to satisfy themselves with what they should not satisfy themselves with are going to treat others poorly.

Church, this is why God tells us so much about our words. You cannot curse man made in God's image while blessing the same God who made him. That's James 3.10. If you wanna learn about stewardship, with that foolishness and how to be wise, praising God and blessing men. Our words are our powerful instruments or weapons. The third section, faith that prepares and is not presumptuous. Faith that prepares and is not presumptuous. chapter 25, beginning of verse one. Again, we see a contrast, foolish and wise.

Faith that prepares and is not presumptuous

At that time, the kingdom of heaven will be like 10 virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five of them were wise. The foolish ones took their lamps, but did not take away any oil with them. The wise ones, however, took oil and jars along with their lamps to bridegroom. With a long time in coming, they all became drowsy and fell asleep.

Okay, so the second picture has 10 virgins. And just to make sure we translate this well, think bridesmaids. As the virgin here is referred to, you're thinking bridesmaids. There's a wedding feast. There's a bridegroom. And what he's probably done in the picture of the culture is he's gone to go make arrangements with the bride's father. So he's delayed in making everything prepared for that future home or whatever accommodations he need to prepare for the wedding with the bride's family. Could have been short, could have taken a long time. This one for the story, took a long time.

Okay, so there's 10 bridesmaids. And just like the story before, there's a contrast. Because it doesn't seem that having oil or not having oil seems to be like a sin issue, but Jesus makes it very clear, five are wise and five are foolish. We gotta wrestle with why. The five wise virgins, bridesmaids, came with extra oil in case there was a delay, and there was a delay, and the five foolish virgins did not make those same preparations.

Now, we have this set up. Jesus calls it foolish. See, the lamps are for the light to be found, to be ready for the wedding. So when the bridegroom comes, you're ready. that the foolish did not make the right preparation. So verse six,

at midnight they cry, ring out, here's the bridegroom, come out to meet him. Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps.

The foolish one said to the wise, give us some of your oil, our lamps are going out.

They said no.

No, they replied. There may not be enough for both of us. And you, instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.

All right, so this again, the assumption is you're bringing the lamp into the feast, you're being found by the lamp, and their lamps are running out. They did not come prepared. So they asked for some of their oil. Is it selfish for the five wise ones to not share? Well, that statement, there would not be enough for us, seems to be an absolute statement. Let's try to translate this.

So these are bridesmaids. Imagine you're a bridesmaid and you decide you're not going to take that special outfit that the bride has picked out for you, right? So instead of lamps, I've never been to a wedding with a lamp and I don't want to be, just to be clear. I'm going to discourage that. We have a dress code for weddings now, right? If you're in the wedding party, you're wearing the same color, you're picking out the dresses together, or you're being given a dress to wear. Imagine you show up to the wedding the day of and you don't have your bridesmaid's dress.

It's a special honor to be in the wedding party. You're closest to the action. You're closest to the ceremony. You're a dear friend who has a responsibility, more than even all the other witnesses, to be there for them and to celebrate even closer with them.

And you decided you're not going to bring your dress, you're gonna ask for somebody else's dress. If you're a bridesmaid and somebody said, I did not bring everything I need, can I borrow what you have? That makes you look like you don't care about the bride. They didn't make the right preparations. It's as if you show up as one of the groomsmen or the bridesmaids, disheveled, dirty, unprepared. What does that say about your relationship with the bride and groom? Shows that you don't really care. It shows that you don't have enough respect or love for them to think, I want to make sure I'm coming prepared for this celebration that you've given me a special invitation to. If somebody comes unprepared, there's nothing else anybody else can do for them without them being unprepared. Someone shows up late, these foolish bridesmaids, these foolish virgins, They didn't come prepared and ready for the wedding.

Therefore, they have to go to buy what they should have already had. And notice what happens in verse 10.

But while they're on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready,

who had made the right preparations by faith,

went in with him to the wedding banquet and the door was shut. Later, the others also came. Lord, Lord, they said, open the door for us.

But he replied, truly, I tell you, I don't know you.

The lack of faith shows a lack of caring. The lack of faith and preparation shows a lack of love. The later ones, they went to go buy afterwards and the door's shut. The wedding's already started. They're not gonna come in and mess up the order and goodness and the most devastating words.

Truly I tell you, I don't know you.

To know him and be known

Those are weighty words throughout scripture. Because God, when he created us, he created us to know him and to be known by him. It isn't just that we might know of him, but to know him and be known of him. This is a relational declaration. Remember back in Matthew 7, Jesus says, many will cry out, Lord, Lord, but he will say to part, I never knew you. And the key distinction there is similar here.

They did not do the will of the Father. That's why Jesus doesn't know them. Here they're not prepared, which is called foolishness, it's disobedience. They're not alert, they're not awake, they're not ready. Verse 13 tells us they didn't keep watch. They weren't diligent. I do not know you is not merely an intellectual statement, it's a relational statement. I do not know you as my child. I do not know you in Christ. I do not know you as you've come by faith. To be very clear, God knows all of us intellectually better than we know ourselves.

This is a relational saving knowledge that the bridegroom is saying, I do not have of those who were not ready, who were not keeping watch, who were not prepared. Jesus has come to adopt us and to know us. He's come to purchase us with His blood and make us His beloved bride. A people that He provides for. He knows His people. He calls us by name. There's a personal way in which Jesus speaks to us and we hear His voice. The pressing question, does He know you? If you want to be known by God in this salvation, again, It's faith in Jesus. It's the only way to know the Father. It's the only way to know God in this salvation. It's the only way to be known by God. By faith in Jesus alone who dies for you.

Christian, stay awake. Be ready. Be the wise servant who receives instruction and is faithful while the master is away. Keep watch. Keep watch. Be expectant and prepared. This seeks your meaning to, you're seeking to be near Christ, near his word, near his people. Pursuing his truth and goodness his way. May we be eagerly expecting Christ's return. Come, Lord Jesus. Will you pray with me?

Father, we thank You that You have spoken from the very beginning. We can see the power Your Word has and that it's come with The power to make promises that you keep, it's come with the power that restores us, with the very word that doesn't return void, that whatever you declare, it comes into being. You're thinking that by your word, you proclaimed a salvation, that by your word, you proclaim sinners, innocent, righteous, and forgiven. By your word, you give us such a foundation to build our lives upon. so that when the trials, the suffering, the temptation come, we stand firmly and faithfully on your word. We thank you that you have given us so much to know and to be confident.

Lord, help us. Help us in our weak faith. Lord, we pray that you would help us trust you more. Trust you, especially in the areas we do not have clarity and confidence. Help us put our lives on what you have said, and may we be alert, watchful, awake, and ready. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.